This past week, Marine older-brother
Sarge twisted my arm about another 5K, and I decided to go for it… the starting
point was right outside the back gate, in one of the community parks! Rather
than driving an hour and a half each way, I got to sleep later (up sixish last
weekend!), warm and eat a nice breakfast, then step outside. I strolled across
the footbridge, got my race packet, bib, and tracking chip… and walked back
home, got one more caffeinated sip, said Hi again to Maude the cat, grabbed
some tissues/napkins, and walked back to the starting line, still 'way early!
Like last week, I walked most of today's
course, but also sprinted/jogged a couple short stretches… and somehow managed
to knock several minutes off last week's time. The folks at last week's event
had me crawling past the finish line at… around [mumbled number] minutes, so I'd
at least walked my age, which gets easier as you get older.
This time 'round, here in town, I
finished at 49:02… right between a six-year-older and a ten-year-older,
according to the posted printout. This seems to indicate I'm getting younger –
underscored by that age-group bracket; heh-heh.
I still didn't dud myself up seasonally,
unlike these folks:
…but should've at least brought along my
jingle-bells, dang it. There was a real-beard Santa in kilt (bagpipes would've
been stunning!), plus a passel of elves, a woman dressed like a school bus,
some more trotting kids decked out as li'l snowmen, poochies like reindeer…
fun!
The two gals joining Goofy Santa above (really
cool gloves, Goof!) are labeled "Dasher" and "Prancer", but
could easily have worn tags that both said "Vixen"… never mind. And
they finished long ahead of me, fluffy tails and all.
The course covered a few chunks of some of
the places friend Gwynne and I took in during our own walks last year (and much
earlier), both nighttime and afternoon… so I relived some of those good
memories of her company, and as always sent up some extra prayers. I hope she
felt especially blessed this morning. Hah; she IS! It would have been great to
have her along this morning, of course – and her nurse-mom with the stethoscope
and nitro pills, just in case.
One of the several great things about hosting
Gwynne here, a year and a half back, was all the walking we did. I lost maybe
twenty pounds over that two-plus-month span… I seem to've found them again, and
would like to drop them by the wayside once more, along with their cousins and
friends.
This is just one way and part of
an-even-slightlier healthier lifestyle. Plus Rosie next door (my other Sarge –
and a friend of Gwynne's as well) encourages it – and where the heck was
she this morning, anyway? I'll have to check… she was probably completing a
marathon someplace (she's a sixty-something grandmother), maybe even the 5/10K
at the military base in the city, where my brother and his wife were doing
their own running this morning.
Brother and sister-in-law (hyong-su nim)
were supposed to be at today's local course, but at the last minute found they
had a conflict – that on-base run. Hah! No conflict for them; they got to visit
the commissary afterward.
The cold air – had to be in the thirties
– was so crisp it almost crackled… and was quite invigorating, too, given my
thick coat, sweatshirt underneath, and knit cap. And the route was easy, with
only one uphill stretch, and a couple nice downhills. Bonus: I now know an
exact 5K course in my own neighborhood to practice on.
